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Chris Wakelin defies hospital scare, illness and odds to land Scottish Open title
Chris Wakelin has continued his climb towards snooker’s elite by winning the Scottish Open on Sunday night, but his biggest success to date came in unexpected circumstances.
The 33-year-old beat Chang Bingyu 9-2 in the final in Edinburgh, falling behind early before winning eight frames on the spin and finishing the match in style with a century.
It is his second ranking title but first outside of the one-frame Shoot Out, making the £100,000 triumph in Scotland the biggest win of his career.
All four of Wakelin’s ranking finals have come in under three years, showing his huge improvement, while in that timeframe he has also been to a World Championship quarter-final and this season’s Saudi Arabia Masters semi.
He has stepped up from mid-ranking campaigner to a real force, but this week did not seem like an obvious one to produce more success.
The Monster dealt with pneumonia the week before the event and had to take his baby daughter to hospital during the tournament, not exactly making the circumstances ideal for top performance.
‘We got up here on Sunday and on Tuesday lunchtime we were in hospital with her,’ Wakelin told TNT Sports of his daughter Mia after lifting the Stephen Hendry Trophy. ‘She wasn’t very well, but thankfully the nurses there managed to get her back.
‘When I got back from my first round match, they were right as rain back in the hotel. So to think, in the last five days, we’ve gone from nearly pulling out to standing here.
‘I had pneumonia last week. I’ve got so many excuses – more excuses than when I lose!
‘I couldn’t sleep last night. Luckily, Lucy [fiancée] agreed to go and stay in an entirely different hotel to give me a little bit of a break.
‘But I was going to sleep last night and thinking, wouldn’t it be just magic to be out there lifting the trophy and having Mia and Lucy there as well?
‘To get it done in such emphatic style and to have them celebrate with me is something I’ll never forget.’
‘It’s been a tough few weeks for me and my family’
The new world number 14 spoke of these issues, and others, earlier in the tournament, saying: ‘It’s been a tough few weeks for me and my family but thankfully now I think we’re on the other side of the issues that we’ve got going on.
‘I wanted to come up here to Scotland, I’ve had some good memories here over the years.’
He added after beating Matt Selt in the semi-finals: ‘I had maybe two or three days’ practice. I came here with no expectations and have sort of grown through the week.
‘I had pneumonia last week. It’s bacterial, don’t worry — the antibiotics are working. But we’ve had a really rough few weeks.
‘Then the baby was teething at 2am, so we were up for like three hours.’
Wakelin beat Oliver Lines, Anthony McGill, Yuan Sijun, Zhou Yuelong and Matt Selt to set up the final with Chang.
A breakout event for impressive Chang
The 23-year-old had a tougher run to the showpiece, though, reaching his first ranking final in style.
The Chinese talent downed Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby and Mark Allen, meaning he went into the final as favourite.
He underperformed in the final after a good start, really falling apart, but it was still his finest week as a professional and showed he can compete with the best.
‘I didn’t think that I could get this far and play this final,’ said Chang, through a translator. ‘I’m quite happy because I made big progress.
‘Thank you to my parents, they made a lot of effort to make me professional. Tonight was not my night, Chris Wakelin played extremely well. I couldn’t leave him any chances to let him get in.
‘This has been a very big confidence boost to beat those top players.’
Chang returned to the professional tour this season after a match-fixing ban which saw him out of the game for two years.
Why was Chang Bingyu banned?
Chang was one of the 10 players banned as part of the match-fixing scandal which emerged late in 2022, with punishments dished out in June ’23.
He admitted to fixing a match against Jamie Jones at the 2022 British Open, losing 4-1, but did so as a result of pressure and influence from Liang Wenbo, who subsequently received a lifetime ban.
The Disciplinary Commission’s findings read that Chang ‘accepted that he on 28th September 2022 had fixed a snooker match that he was playing in.’
He gave evidence to the commission that he was called by Liang Wenbo on the morning of the match ‘with a threatening tone’ and told that Liang ‘had placed a lot of money on his bet without my knowledge, for my match with Jamie Jones that evening.’
Chang ‘reluctantly agreed’ but said he never received the money he was told he would be given for the fix.
The independent tribunal’s findings on Chang read: ‘We have found that Chang fixed or contrived, or was a party to an effort to fix or contrive, the result or score of a snooker match on one occasion.
‘We note that, at the time that his match fixing took place, Chang was aged 20. He was young and impressionable and under the influence of Liang, of whom he was scared. Chang has given evidence that he thought Liang would take action against him if he did not comply with Liang’s demands. We accept that, in all probability, Chang would not have offended absent that element of threat. He was also suffering financial difficulties at the time, he has shown genuine remorse for his actions and he admitted his office at the earliest opportunity. There is no suggestion that Chang committed any betting offence.’
Chang was given a three-year ban in June 2023 for fixing a match, reduced to two years following early admissions and his plea of guilty, which kept him out of snooker until December 2024 – backdated to his original suspension.
Wakelin certainly feels that Chang only got involved in the scandal due to the influence of others, hailing the talented star’s return to the game and predicting big things to come.
‘It doesn’t get any better than this, but I just want to say a massive well done to Bingyu,’ Wakelin said in his winner’s speech. ‘He’s an absolute credit to the sport.
‘He’s had some issues over the last couple of years which I don’t think he had anything to do with. So to see that he’s making his way up the rankings so quickly now, he’s a phenomenal talent, definitely one to watch out for and I’m sure he’ll be back in a big final soon.’
He added: ‘I don’t think he did anything wrong. I don’t think it was his fault. He’s got a very bright future.’
Leo Scullion hangs up his white gloves
The Scottish Open final was also notable as the final match popular, veteran referee Leo Scullion will take charge of, hanging up his gloves after 26 years on the professional circuit.
‘I’ve been thinking about this for a while, I just wasn’t sure when would be the right time,’ said the 67-year-old. ‘I decided with this being a home event in Scotland, this was the moment. 26 years is a long time and I’m starting to feel that maintaining the high standards I like to set is taking more and more concentration. I’m not getting any younger.
‘I didn’t think about coming back to snooker in 2014, lets be honest. It was a terrible situation. I got back and I managed to do the first Scottish Open final in 2016 and then the world final in 2019. I’m quite pleased I managed to do that.
‘We as the referees always get a great reception at the Crucible, but at the final you need to be there to feel the atmosphere. It is electric. I will miss that kind of thing, but at the end of the day I think this is the right time to finish.’
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